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Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

An Elephant and the Case of Literary Scholars, or, A Few Words about Zoophilology. Reconnaissance

Piotr Krupiński

Published: 23-12-2015 | Abstract | pp. 13-23

This article is entirely dedicated to zoophilology—a new discipline of research, which emerged with the fusion of philological sciences and modern, ethically deepened animal studies. The author— following Aleksander Nawarecki, who coined the term—is trying to define the genesis, subject of research, and methodology of zoophilology. Its most important intellectual context is the non-anthropocentric humanities, also called posthumanities. One of the main tasks of zoophilology studies is to show how writers question the evaluative opposition between men and animals. More and more often getting to know the perspective of animals—their non-human point of view, which is so difficult to imagine— is becoming one of the ambitions of modern literature and art. The role of zoophilologists is conceived as trying to analyze and interpret such “postanthropocentric” texts. It is an attempt to reach a deeper understanding of how literature enables us to put ourselves in the position of others.

2015-12-23



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Several remarks on the presence of animals in science‑fiction film and literature

Agnieszka Nieracka

Published: 24-12-2016 | Abstract | pp. 107-117

 One of the most essential topics of science-fiction literature and film is the encounter of a human being with the other, an alien being. Not only does the meaning of this encounter point to the dilemmas of anthropocentrism, but it also emphasizes the loneliness of a human being in the face of other, non-human beings. Animal studies and imagined worlds of science-fiction share basic questions about the possibility of communicating with the representatives of other species. Therefore, in this paper I analyze selected texts of science-fiction literature and films that consider the consequences resulting from the encounter of the human being and the animal. I indicate the primacy of feminist thought in this field of technoculture (Donna Haraway) and, at the same time, I present the examples of bio-technological animals in cyberpunk. I also evoke the figure of King Kong, which is emblematic for the fantasy film genre, in order to accentuate the presence of feminist discourse in this “encounter of Beauty and the Beast”.

2016-12-24



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Women, Dogs and Cats. Domestic Existence of Humans and Animals in Familial Literature

Marzena Małgorzata Kotyczka

Published: 23-12-2015 | Abstract | pp. 175-194

The article discusses the issue of living and thinking with pets. The author analyzes examples of popular literature, particularly books addressed to families and women, in order to seek for animal agency in the plot. The thesis is based on an assumption about the special bond between pets and female characters in such novels. Verifying the theory of Yi-Fu Tuan from his book Dominance and Affection. Making of Pets, the article questions pets as an effect of the human tendency to domination over nature and taking comfort in a coherent view of animals. Pets, according to Tuan’s theory, ought to be reflections of human desires and needs. The domination in its roots is male, but its repressive demands involve pets as well as women. This is the premise whereby the special relation between pets and female owners has evolved. That is the reason why it is important to examine the meaning of human-animal relations by considering gender. The space where the bond between women and their pets starts and develops is also significant. The home is the third main character of each novel, and maintains an actually dynamic relation with others.

2015-12-23



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Poor animals look at people. Margin notes in book „Why did the Geese Shriek?” Animals and the Holocaust in Polish Literature of the 20th and 21st Century by Piotr Krupiński

Miłosz Markiewicz

Published: 24-12-2017 | Abstract | pp. 239-248

The article presents a reflection on the presence of animals in the Holocaust and in the narratives that
underpinned it. The starting point of this consideration is the book by a Polish literary scholar – Piotr
Krupiński „Why did the Geese Shriek?” Animals and the Holocaust in Polish Literature of the 20th and 21st Century. The author juxtaposes the book with the comic book Maus by Art Spiegelman and the nazi propaganda film The Eternal Jew. The article raises questions about, among others, suffering of animals, a human–animal dualism in the context of the Holocaust, zoomorphism, and controversies over the so called animal holocaust. The author points out that we should remember the human is also an animal, especially at the time of the reflection on the Holocaust, which reveals the issue of „community of death”.

2017-12-24



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Straw (for animals). Etymological subjections

Piotr Bogalecki

Published: 24-12-2017 | Abstract | pp. 13-21

The article is an attempt to utilize the pre-philosophical etymological meanings of the word subject
in a proposal for the reflection that fits into the discussion on the possibilities of new posthumanistic
approaches to the matter of subject. Its first part comprises etymological inquiry, inspired by the philosophy of M. Heidegger and the proposal of K. Okopien, into the Greek word ὑποκείμενον, the Latin subiectum and the Polish podmiot. In the second part, three new, ethically oriented proposals for perceiving the problem in the perspective of studying animals have been derived from the three former meanings of the Polish subject – a foundling, fraud, and bedding.

2017-12-24



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

A Caring Steward, Bee Work, and Order as a Process in Jakub Kazimierz Haur’s General Gentry Economy (1675)

Andrzej Tadeusz Staniszewski

Published: 24-09-2025 | Abstract | pp. 1-12

This article analyzes a passage from the seven­teenth-century agronomic treatise General Gentry Economy (1675) by Jakub Kazimierz Haur, in which the author offers a brief praise of the beehive as a model of a well-organized estate. Although at first glance the passage may appear to be a conventional reiteration of familiar observations about the cultural significance of the bee in early modern literature and thought, situating it within the broader context of the treatise reveals its function as a conceptual tool for articulating Haur’s views on the role of the steward, the nature of his labor, and the place of animals in political imagination.

2025-09-24



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Multidimensional Interpretation of “Butterflies” in Traditional Chinese Culture

Qu Xueping , Mu Yuting

Published: 18-12-2025 | Abstract | pp. 1-24

In classical Chinese literature, great importance has long been attached to the depiction of butterflies. Ancient texts contain narrative elements such as “Butterfly Dance,” “Butterfly Dream” and “Transformation into a Butterfly,” which, at the semantic level, form three main and relatively stable narrative types: the joy of contemplation, transformation through breaking the cocoon, and selfless, devoted love. These narrative modes developed gradually and in close mutual interdependence, while remaining deeply rooted in human nature, human society, and even interpersonal relationships. This paper conducts a retrospective analysis of extant literary works to trace the origins, characteristic features and cultural content associated with the butterfly image in Chinese classical literature. Furthermore, it also offers a multidimensional interpretation of this motif across different eras, cultural contexts, and individual authorial styles within the broader development of classical literature.

2025-12-18



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Zoopoetics of Ivan Shmelev: Images of Animals in the Short Prose

Alfija Smirnowa

Published: 24-12-2016 | Abstract | pp. 13-21

Features of Shmelev’s zoopoetics are described in the article on the basis of the early stories, such as My Mares, Light Page, and Mary, in which images of animals are analysed in the context of Russian literature of the late 19th and early 20th centuries (Strider by Lev Tolstoy, Kashtanka by Anton Chekhov, The White Poodle and Emerald by Alexander Kuprin, and Dreams of Chang by Ivan Bunin). Shmelev’s zoopoetics is based on the philosophy of life and death, freedom and captivity, and the connection between the natural world and the world of childhood, and is actualized in anthropomorphic images of animals manifested in the texts of the writer in many ways (psychologism, spirituality, and the use of the concepts of “soul”, “destiny”, “love” “morality” and “compassion”). Animals in the stories appear as a certain indicator, because the correlation with them and the attitude to them reveal the other characters – both adults and children.

2016-12-24



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

A Disturbing Image of a Horse in the Selected Examples of German-Language Literature – Symbolism and Meaning

Estera Głuszko-Boczoń

Published: 29-12-2020 | Abstract | pp. 161-170

Literature usually represents a horse as a loyal companion of a man, a noble and intelligent animal. The image of a horse in some works, however, relies on their mystery, it evokes anxiety, fear. It symbolizes an internal unease or a drive to escape. Sometimes a horse is equated to the messenger of death; it personifies dark, incomprehensible forces that cannot be understood by a human mind. This aspect of the unexplored equine nature in Germanlanguage literature is addressed in this study.

2020-12-29



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

God-Human, God-Animal. The Animal Faces of Religion

Alina Mitek-Dziemba

Published: 23-12-2015 | Abstract | pp. 29-36

The aim of this short article is to discuss the state of research in a field which attempts to combine animal studies with theology and religious studies, and to map its discourse, tentatively called “critical ecotheology” and construed as environmental ethics accompanied by a religious inspiration and theological justification which is derived from dogmas and religious attitudes of different world religions. The attempt at providing a theoretical framework for ecotheology was inspired by the pioneering work of scholars who came in September 2014 to Bonn, Germany, for a conference on human-animal relations in religious traditions. The problems brought up by their presentations provoked a discussion of the presence of animals in the thinking, practices, and rituals of various religions and their theologies, highlighting the role of religious culture in negotiating different senses of the animal. The article concludes with the idea that a review of religious and theological issues from the perspective of animal studies may lead to the revision of many concepts and theoretical paradigms within the history and anthropology of religion, while helping to articulate the significance of animals and the need for their protection in the activity of religious groups and individuals.

2015-12-23



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Leo Changes the World: Children’s Vegan Literature and the Challenges of the Anthropocene

Marzena Kubisz

Published: 14-02-2022 | Abstract | pp. 1-19

In her article, Marzena Kubisz examines representations of veganism in the context of debates about the ways to counteract the degradation of the natural environment while claiming that veganism is used instrumentally in the discourse of the Anthropocene, which, in turn, leads to a marginalization of animal suffering. By referring to Donata Marfiak and Jerzy Rey’s book entitled Mamo, tato – dlaczego nie jemy zwierząt? Czyli o tym, jak dzieci ratują świat [Mummy, Daddy, Why Don’t We Eat Animals? Or the Way Children Save the World] Kubisz demonstrates that one of the areas in which the connection between veganism, animal welfare and environmental care is foregrounded in a way which stresses the co-dependency and communality of all living organisms is vegan literature for children.

2022-02-14



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

(Re)visions of Naturalism in the Light of Animal Studies. Reconnaissance

Dariusz Piechota

Published: 23-12-2015 | Abstract | pp. 165-173

The main question discussed in this article is: Can we re-interpret naturalism’s novels or short stories from a non-human perspective? The researchers of animal studies perceive the world as an ecosystem where humans, animals, and plants live in a symbiosis. They also perceive the human as a part of nature. Moreover, with regard to Charles Darwin’s discoveries, it is worth to mention that the theorists of naturalism called the human being an animal. Naturalists introduce a new protagonist into literature called the animal hero. Thanks to animal studies, he is perceived as a subject, not a thing (as was the case earlier). What is more, we can reconstruct different relations between species. One of the most important problems for naturalism and animal studies is empathy towards other creatures. Naturalists, as well as the researchers of animal studies, use different tools to analyse and interpret novels and short stories. First of all, they introduce different narrators in order to be objective. Furthermore, they indicate parallelisms between the human and animal world, they avoid subjective comments, and sometimes they use the strategy called the stream of consciousness to present other creatures’ thoughts.

2015-12-23



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Life in Symbiosis: On Attentiveness to More-than-Human Beings A Conversation with Małgorzata Lebda

Małgorzata Lebda , Ewa Mazurkiewicz

Published: 16-04-2026 | Abstract | pp. 1-8

The starting point of this interview with Małgorzata Lebda is the relationship between humans and insects, especially bees, which occupy a special place in her poetry and prose. The writer speaks of bees as beings co-creating the ecosystem, and at the same time of the metaphorical kinship between the work of the bee and the poet’s work – both requiring vigilance and concentration. The conversation touches on ethical issues related to beekeeping, veganism, and anthropocentrism, and reveals the complexity of the relationship between care for and violence toward more-than-human beings. Lebda also recalls the inspiring role of her father – a beekeeper whose attentiveness and tenderness toward the smallest creatures shaped her poetic sensitivity. The interview becomes a reflection on the need for coexistence, attentiveness, and an ethical contemplation of a world in which the boundaries between the human and the more-than-human become blurred.

2026-04-16



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Dangerous, Clever and Vindictive: The Anthropomorphism of Invertebrates in the Prose of Dino Buzzati

Dorota Karwacka-Pastor

Published: 24-09-2025 | Abstract | pp. 1-12

Dino Buzzati, the best-known representative of twentieth-century surrealism in Italian literature, was fascinated by the world of fauna and flora. In articles published in leading Italian newspapers, he advocated for the rights of animals exploit­ed by humans. Buzzati’s interests also extended to invertebrates, as even the smallest creatures aroused his respect and admiration, becoming the subjects of his stories, novels, reports, and columns.

2025-09-24



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Trześniewska Agnieszka, Dariusz Piechota (eds.): Ekomodernizmy. Lublin 2016 (language of publication: Polish, paperback, 174 pages)

Anna Czarnowus

Published: 24-12-2017 | Abstract | pp. 293-295

Anna Czarnowus's notes on Ekomodernizmy. Trześniewska Agnieszka, Dariusz Piechota (eds.), Lublin 2016

2017-12-24



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Developing Empathy through Literature: Interspecies Relationship in La Mirada de Humilda by Alonso Sánchez Baute

Anna Maria Karczewska

Published: 14-05-2026 | Abstract | pp. 1-28

Alonso Sánchez Baute’s La Mirada de Humilda (Humilda’s Gaze) (2022) is a book about the interspecies relationship between the writer and his dog, Humilda, West Highland White Terrier. It tells a story of a friendship of two beings who observe, support and love each other and who are made to say goodbye one day. The aim of this article is to explore how Sánchez Baute’s book may shape the reader’s engagement with the text, how it fosters a sense of simulative empathy, enabling readers to emotionally connect with the canine’s experiences and the human–dog relationship depicted in the novel; how it enhances the emotional depth and appeal of the story, offering unique insights into the interspecies bond. To explore the abovementioned themes, the impact of the companion species on a human being will be analyzed, along with their communication and the process of grieving after the dog’s death.

2026-05-14



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Plastic Domestication: Reading Species Stories Through the Framework of Plasticity

Justyna Włodarczyk

Published: 12-05-2026 | Abstract | pp. 1-26

This article examines plasticity as a theoretical lens for analyzing non-human animal narratives, focusing on popular animal fiction from the early twentieth century, especially Jack London’s wolf-dog novels. Plasticity – the capacity of organisms to be shaped by environmental pressures – has historically been used to construct species hierarchies, with dogs, particularly wolf-dogs, portrayed as the most plastic and adaptable. This framing often reinforces their ability to internalize human values, positioning canis familiaris as inherently defined by their bond with humans. While plasticity has traditionally upheld anthropocentric frameworks, this article argues that it also offers a means to challenge them. By reconsidering species stories through plasticity, it becomes possible to disrupt hierarchical assumptions and highlight animal agency within broader multispecies networks. This approach not only repositions dogs as active participants in ecological systems but also provides a methodology for disentangling them from human-centered narratives. It also conceptualizes canids as full-fledged subjects of environmental humanities scholarship.

2026-05-12



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Donald Wesling: Animal Perception and Literary Language. Palgrave Studies in Animals and Literature. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. 286 pp.

Anna Czarnowus

Published: 25-12-2019 | pp. 427-428

2019-12-25



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Literature on the Hunt – Carlo Ginzburg’s Clues and the Evidential Paradigm

Krzysztof Witczak

Published: 24-12-2018 | Abstract | pp. 205-213

In my paper I will try to sketch the literary implications of Carlo Ginzburg’s essay entitled Clues: Roots of an Evidential Paradigm. The method assumes focusing on detail as the most important element in the narrative. Ginzburg’s Clues owe their name to the animal tracking mechanism by the hunter. Hunting can therefore be treated as a metaphor for the interpretation of a text in the form of signs.

2018-12-24



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

The Witch’s Demon. A Literary Image of the Cat-Devil and the Witch’s Cat on the Basis of Chosen Examples of the World and Polish Literature (XIX–XXI Centuries)

Anna Goworek

Published: 31-12-2021 | Abstract | pp. 1-30

In nineteenth-century literature, cats were presented as witch helpers (familiar spirits or animal guides) and Satan’s tools. These motifs have been freely used by modern writers specializing in the fantasy genre. They have created many cat protagonists inspired by mythology, medieval tradition and witch-hunting documents. This list of references explains why literary cats are often associated with dark magic. The purpose of this article is to show the connection between culture and literature that will explain the modern idea of the magic cat.

2021-12-31



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Swarm–Hybrid–Technology: The Transmedial Possibilities of Becoming-Insect

Piotr F. Piekutowski

Published: 21-06-2023 | Abstract | pp. 1-21

According to Rosi Braidotti, insects are determined by their in-between-ness and continuous becoming. The paper analyses the assemblage of insect figurations on two levels: non-human technology and unnatural narrative in stories about a transformation. Following Jussi Parikka’s media archaeology research, becoming-insect is examined on transmedial examples from literature (Franz Kafka—The Metamorphosis), film (David
Cronenberg—The Fly), video games and VR (All in! Games—Metamorphosis) and networked media. According to Jan Alber, exploration beyond human stances and defamiliarization in narrative fiction leads to the shift of cognitive frameworks. Radically Other insects transgress the anthropocentric paradigm and execute posthuman assumptions by a hybrid entanglement with humans and machines.

2023-06-21



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Rethinking the Political with Other Animals. Eva Meijer in Conversation with Dariusz Gzyra and Patryk Szaj

Patryk Szaj , Dariusz Gzyra , Eva Meijer

Published: 17-06-2025 | Abstract | pp. 1-12

The interview with Eva Meijer that Dariusz Gzyra and Patryk Szaj conducted considers the political aspects of relationships between humans and non-human animals. It aims at reconsidering “the political” along with other animals (in contrast to speaking simply “about” animal politics.) In the course of the interview, the following issues are raised: the political turn in animal studies, the progressive development of animal studies over the years, non-human languages and their role in political participation, the advantages and disadvantages of liberal democracy when it comes to interspecies politics, the “from the ground up” method in political theory, the political task of literature, the role of political parties and other institutions in a systemic change, animals as working-class members, the entangled empathy that, perhaps, involves not only sentient animals but also non-sentient beings.

2025-06-17



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

The First Step

Lew Nikołajewicz Tołstoj , Grzegorz Ojcewicz

Published: 17-04-2024 | Abstract | pp. 1-30

Leo Tolstoy’s essay, The First Step (Первая ступень) written in 1891, is a multi-dimensional text whose purpose was not only to try to convert people to the righteous path of living through consistently followed restraint and self-control over one’s desires, but its author also encouraged people – in a rather convincing way – to become vegetarians. Tolstoy claimed that meat-free diet closely relates to healthy nutrition and consi­derably limits or even eliminates the suffering of animals being slaughtered on a mass scale for consumption in pain and death factories, as he referred to mechanised slaughterhouses. Using naturalistic images, the writer describes horrifying scenes he witnessed at the abattoir in Tula. The text is filled with drastic imagery, sounds and foul odours wafting from the slaughterhouse and the vision of inhumane practices of butchers, young and old, devoid of any sympathy towards the animals being killed. In hindsight it must be regretfully noted that Tolstoy’s essay has not changed people’s dietary habits and vegetaria­nism has not managed to supplant the traditional, mostly meat-based menu.

2024-04-17



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Victim of Good Intentions Zoo-kept African Wild Dogs in Species Conservation Biopolitics

Alicja Gryguc

Published: 27-05-2025 | Abstract | pp. 1-16

As the topic of animal welfare in zoos rises, so does the question of the importance of zoo-kept animals for species conservation. This article brings up the issue of African wild dogs. Author combines data from various studies into these sections - biopolitics of species endangerment, conservation efforts and issues of zoo-kept dogs. With that perspective this paper argues that species with great environmental needs should not be kept captive. In the context of conservation biopolitics, author brings up studies that serve as proof that zoo-kept wild dogs are not useful enough in the reintroduction to excuse their poor well-being.

2025-05-27



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Not Only Fireflies and Butterflies: Lice, Ants and Other Insects in the Works of Tachibana Akemi (1812–1868) Within the Context of Classical Japanese Waka Poetry

Anna Zalewska

Published: 05-09-2025 | Abstract | pp. 1-16

Waka poetry was the most important genre of classical Japanese literature and continues to be composed today, usually in the form known as tanka, or “short song,” from the second half of the 19th century onwards (consisting of 31 morae arranged in a 5-7-5-7-7 pattern). One of its central themes was nature, particularly those elements considered suitable for poetic expression. Among insects, the focus was primarily on those known for producing beautiful sounds, such as various types of crickets, but also on fireflies. In the pre-modern period, waka poetry began to exhibit realistic tendencies, expanding its subject matter and vocabulary – exemplified by the work of Tachibana Akemi (1812–1868).

This article first presents the use of insect motifs in earlier waka poetry as background, then discusses the depiction of insects in Tachibana’s poetry, with a focus on innovative themes (such as lice and ants) and realism.

2025-09-05



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Covering animals’ death. Reflections on Bernd Heinrich writing

Hanna Mamzer

Published: 25-12-2019 | Abstract | pp. 383-388

Books by Bernd Heinrich became very popular literature describing basic rules of functioning of ecosystems. Heinrich describes also working routine of scientists who try to discover those rules. In Heinrich’s writings, I note however a very visible link – which can be defined as covering animals’ death. In my text I try to unmask this fact. I also debate why this method of hiding animals’ death by using euphemisms and understatements is performed.

2019-12-25



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Noticing More: Ways of Representing Other-Than-Human Animals in Audiovisuals on War in Ukraine

Patrycja Chuszcz

Published: 05-05-2025 | Abstract | pp. 1-21

This article explores how other-than-human animals are depicted in audiovisual materials related to the war in Ukraine, drawing from film studies and animal studies literature. It investigates the historical link between cinema and warfare, tracing animals’ roles in armed conflicts. Through film analysis, it examines how animals are used by filmmakers to convey messages about the war. The article highlights shifts in animal cinematic portrayal. Animals are both background and protagonists, shaping viewers’ perceptions of the war. Additionally, it explores how the war influences the portrayal of animals in film, touching on themes like animal refugees, occupation, and nationality. The article discusses animals’ role in portraying war narratives and examines empowering them within Ukrainian war-related audiovisual content.

2025-05-05



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

A Case for Felt Kinship: [Review of Gary Steiner’s book What We Owe to Nonhuman Animals: The Historical Pretensions of Reason and the Ideal of Felt Kinship, London and New York: Routledge, 2024]

Giulia Magro

Published: 25-05-2026 | Abstract | pp. 1-9

The review discusses the volume What We Owe to Nonhuman Animals: The Historical Pretensions of Reason and the Ideal of Felt Kinship, the latest work published by Gary Steiner, Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Bucknell University. The monograph provides an overview of and a challenge to the anthropocentrism of the Western philosophical tradition. In particular, it forcefully advocates for the recognition of the full moral status of nonhuman animals, going against the grain of the hegemonic Western philosophical stance. The review introduces the main arguments advanced by the author and addresses the volume’s structure, the conclusions it reaches, and the relevance of its discussion for the status of nonhuman animals.

2026-05-25



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Consuming Veganism

Agata Sitko

Published: 16-04-2024 | Abstract | pp. 1-17

When observing the development of the vegan market, one can start to wonder to what extent this constitutes the consumption of an idea and to what extent the idea itself has become a commodity. Bearing in mind the market importance of veganism, the article refers to such concepts as commodity (as defined by Karl Marx) and symbolic consumption, and draws attention to the marketization of rebellion (understood here as opposing the dominant culture of carnivores). The characteristics of the consumer society (defined by Zygmunt Bauman) are also presented. Kat Von D, who is an American celebrity and vegan, serves as an example of combining veganism and commercialism. The article also refers to the issue of acceptance of commercial enterprises that can contribute to the creation of a vegan world, as well as the market significance of veganism itself in the 21st century.

2024-04-16



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

The Rooster in English and Scottish Ballads

Mykhailo Rakhno

Published: 16-04-2026 | Abstract | pp. 1-27

The article explores the significance of the rooster in English and Scottish ballads, highlighting its role as a symbol of time, vigilance, and the transition from night to day. Domestic chickens, particularly roosters, have been integral to human life for thousands of years, serving practical purposes such as providing eggs, meat, and feathers. This importance is reflected in folklore, where the crowing of the rooster is often associated with the dawn and the awakening of the world. The article discusses various cultural interpretations of the rooster’s crow, noting its historical use as a timekeeper before the advent of mechanical clocks. Ancient poets, including Lucretius and Juvenal, recognized the rooster’s role in marking the early hours of the morning, while Roman and Greek traditions imbued the rooster with mythological significance, associating it with deities of light and vigilance. The crowing of the rooster is depicted as a protective force against evil spirits and a harbinger of change, with various folk beliefs attributing supernatural meanings to its calls. In ballads, the rooster’s crow often signals the end of nocturnal encounters, particularly between lovers and their ghostly counterparts, emphasizing the theme of separation at dawn. The article also examines specific ballads, such as Sweet William’s Ghost and Clerk Saunders, where the rooster’s crowing serves as a pivotal moment that dictates the fate of the characters involved. Furthermore, the text highlights the rooster’s dual role as both a timekeeper and a symbol of resurrection, linking it to themes of life, death, and the cyclical nature of existence. The analysis concludes by underscoring the rooster’s enduring presence in folklore and its multifaceted symbolism across cultures, illustrating its significance in the human experience as a marker of time and a guardian against darkness.

2026-04-16



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Shared Micro-worlds Literary and Artistic Depictions of Insects

Adrianna Chorąży

Published: 18-12-2025 | Abstract | pp. 1-13

The article analyzes subjective representations of insects in contemporary literature. The author focuses on narrative depictions of ways of establishing relationships with such uniquely different animals. She illustrates various writing strategies employed by Selja Ahava in her novel Nainen joka rakasti hyönteisiä (The Woman Who Loved Insects) and artistic approaches exemplified by the art book co-created with insects by Zhu Yingchun, The Language of Bugs.

2025-12-18



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Jan Gawiński’s animal epitaphs in view of the ecocriticism

Agata Knopik

Published: 29-12-2023 | Abstract | pp. 1-15

The aim of article Jan Gawiński’s animal epitaphs in view of the ecocriticism was to use the optics of human-animal studies shaped as a part of that titular modern methodology, to verify previous interpretations of Jan Gawiński’s baroque epitaph, devoted to animals. The thesis focuses on polemic with the opinions that Jan Gawiński’s animal epitaphs are the expression of nihilism, grotesque or variations of the animal’s fable. The chapter also accents the importance of composition of that poems collection for the lecture of each respective piece. Using the ecocritical view made an opportunity to demonstrate that in spite of the pre-modern’s vision of nature (hierarchical chain of being) writers has found an interstice which has allowed them express the sense of community with animals, feeling of mortal togetherness, empathy, sensitivity of conscience and responsibility for friars minor.

2023-12-29



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

How Invertebrate Personalities Unfold

Barbara Pietrzak

Published: 17-12-2025 | Abstract | pp. 1-24

Individuals within a species perceive and respond to their environment differently, and each inhabits and creates its own unique Umwelt. Consistent differences in behaviour between individuals of the same species that persist over time or through contexts are known in behavioural ecology and comparative psychology as animal personalities. They arise as a result of random processes occurring during individual development and as a result of processing and integrating information transmitted from ancestors and collected throughout one’s life. To emphasize the role of the interaction of these factors operating on different time scales, it is proposed in this article to look at invertebrate personalities using Nikolaas Tinbergen’s four questions, but tracing evolution, ontogeny, cause and function along the axis of time and information flow. The insight into the literature presented here is also intended to support the acceptance of this common biological phenomenon and the term describing it.

2025-12-17



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

“You Should Describe Things as if You’ve Seen Them for the First Time.” Michał Książek’s Linguistic Expressions of Animals and Human-Animal Relations

Dorota Miller

Published: 30-12-2021 | Abstract | pp. 1-22

The main objective of this paper is to pinpoint the possible linguistic expressions of animals and human-animal relations. The analysis is based on two publications documenting the growing interest of literature in environmental issues: Michał Książek’s “Droga 816” (2015) and “Północny wschód” (2017). They represent the so-called ‘nature writing’: a well-established literary tradition in the Anglo-American literature, little-known in Polish literary landscape.

2021-12-30



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Introduction

Alina Mitek-Dziemba

Published: 25-12-2019 | pp. 9-12

2019-12-25



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Interweaving the Human and the Animal. Some Remarks on the Works of Żabińska and Pufelski

Szymon Kamiński

Published: 06-09-2024 | Abstract | pp. 1-14

The article focuses on the changes taking place within zoos, which are losing their anthropocentric character. This is influenced by new, ethical approaches of people operating within these institutions. The analysis also touches on the awareness of discrimination against certain groups of people and its impact on the oppressive treatment of animals. The intertwining of the fates of humans and non-humans makes their fates similar. This is alluded to by authors of literary testimonies. With the help of their work and previous activities, they try to subvert, allowing for the change of meanings and humanization of human and animal subjects. The argument is based on Antonina Żabińska’s prose Ludzie i zwie­rzęta (1968) and Patryk Pufelski’s diary, Pawilon małych ssaków (2022).

2024-09-06



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

A View “without a Subject” [Review of Aleksandra Ubertowska’s Book, Historie biotyczne. Pomiędzy estetyką a geotraumą [Biotic Histories. Between Aesthetics and Geotrauma]. Warsaw: Instytut Badań Literackich PAN, 2020]

Katarzyna Koza

Published: 05-06-2023 | Abstract | pp. 1-7

The text is a review of Aleksandra Ubertowska’s book, Historie biotyczne. Pomiędzy estetyką a geo­traumą [Biotic histories. Between aesthetics and geotrauma]. The starting point becomes the biocentric lens applied by the researcher and the geo­story behind it. Equally interesting and important are the possibilities of ecocritical theories in interpretation and their application in the Polish ground.

 

2023-06-05



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

„Ich schieß den Hirsch im wilden Forst…” On the significance of hunting on Martin Sperr’s Hunting scenes from Bavaria

Zbigniew Feliszewski

Published: 24-12-2018 | Abstract | pp. 233-243

The article is an attempt to read the early play of a German play wright Martin Sperr, from the perspective of hunting theory. In the play Hunting scenes from Bavaria of 1966, Martin Sperr shows the mechanisms of exclusion of a human being from the society. The play is set in a Bavarian vil- lage – a community on the threshold of economic, political and cultural changes, transforming from a production society into a consumer society. The economic crisis exaggerates the processes of exclusion, which culminates in the literal hunting for homosexual Abram. The article is an attempt to analyse the hunting artefact as a way to show the individual processes of exclusion from the community.

2018-12-24



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Body and the Poetics of Self-Restraint. Contact with Jellyfish in the Poems of Marianne Moore and Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska

Mateusz Kucab

Published: 05-09-2025 | Abstract | pp. 1-14

The purpose of this article is to analyze two poems by Marianne Moore and Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska, which textually process the encounters between humans and jellyfish. The author argues that both poets having described a variety of meeting places (water, beach) between human and non-human animals, experiment with a poetics of strangeness that evokes a sense of incompatibility between human and jellyfish. However, both poets propose poetic formulas such as the abandonment of intention and attentiveness that transform the lyrical personae of their poems into gestures of conscious relinquishment of the desire to touch and possess. Although the poems analyzed are anthropocentric, they embody an attitude that challenges the dynamics of human domination, possession and assertion of human position. According to the author, Moore and Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska realize it by creatively confronting the antithetical materiality of the jellyfish with the unstable and corporeal identity of the lyrical persona.

2025-09-05



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

The (Non)human Body: The Motif of Corporeality in Anna Adamowicz’s Animalia

Adriana Joanna Mickiewicz

Published: 27-12-2022 | Abstract | pp. 1-18

The aim of this article is to analyse the motif of corporeality in the poetic book Animalia by a young Polish poet Anna Adamowicz. The methodology implemented was elaborated based on zoocriticism, a subdiscipline of Animal Studies, and lead to advancing the thesis that Adamowicz’s poems are a voice of dissent against treating nonhuman corporeality as inferior and reducing it to worthless, passive “meat”. In her poetry, Adamowicz shatters the anthropocentric hierarchy of species and shows the tragic consequences of human activity for the entirety of animal world. Another theme worth underscoring and pointing to in her poetry is climate change, the effects of which are particularly acute in the world of non-human animals.

2022-12-27



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Animal Liberation and Giving up the Meat Diet in the Novel La penultima magia by Tiziano Scarpa

Karolina Kopańska

Published: 11-04-2024 | Abstract | pp. 1-19

The aim of this article is to present how Tiziano Scarpa promotes the ideas of vegetarianism and veganism as well as interspecies dialogue in his novel La penultima magia. The author proposes an ecocritical reading that will allow to track down the textual values of the human-animal relationship. In the first part the author considers the legitimacy of raising animals for food. The second part focuses on the idea of veganism.

 

2024-04-11



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

“Working in Blood”. On the Language of the Female and the Animal Subject in Małgorzata Lebda’s Matecznik

Anouk Herman

Published: 14-02-2022 | Abstract | pp. 1-16

Anouk Herman’s aim in this article is to introduce the ecofeminist theory of the animal subject and its absent referent in the poetry book Matecznik by Polish author Małgorzata Lebda. Ecofeminism provides tools for elaborate analysis of the conceptual connections between women (as well as persons of nonbinary identities) and animals and may be used as a theoretical background for ecocritical research on literature. Ecofeminist philosophers Carol J. Adams and Marti Kheel have developed theories regarding relationships of human and non-human phenomena. They examine the issues of sexuality and carnality in the context of the killing and hunting of animals, themes which constitute important motifs in Lebda’s poetry.

2022-02-14



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Holy Animality: Tatiana Goricheva’s Contribution to Orthodox Ecotheology

Alina Mitek‑Dziemba

Published: 24-12-2017 | Abstract | pp. 57-67

The aim of the publication is to acquaint the Polish reader with a fragment of the most famous book by Tatiana M. Goricheva, Holy Animals (published in Saint Petersburg in 1993), which has not been translated into Polish so far. The author of the book is one of the few Russian‑speaking thinkers dealing both with Orthodox Christianity and the question of animal rights. The attached commentary offers an introduction to her philosophy, which is here presented at the broad background of Eastern Orthodox thinking. In contradistinction to Western theology, it is the tradition that discusses the Christian idea of redemption in cosmic terms and points to the possibility of religious identification and sanctification of animals. Therefore, it seems that the Eastern Orthodox interpretation of the Christian doctrine provides a different perspective on the situation of animals and their suffering in the contemporary world and may lead to action to secure their status as individual subjects.

2017-12-24



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Mia Couto’s Postcolonial Epistemology: Animality in "Confession of the Lioness" (A Confissão da leoa)

Kristian Van Haesendonck

Published: 25-12-2019 | Abstract | pp. 297-308

Celem artykułu jest zbadanie relacji pomiędzy zwierzęcością i śmiercią we współczesnej literaturze postkolonialnej pochodzącej z luzofońskiej części Afryki (czyli dawnych kolonii portugalskich), ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem powieści Wyznanie lwicy (A confissão da leoa) autorstwa mozambickiego pisarza Mii Couto. Jego twórczość znana jest z zainteresowania animizmem i tym, co nadprzyrodzone, stąd często kategoryzuje się ją pod szyldem „magicznego realizmu”. Jednakże w Wyznaniu lwicy Mia Couto zajmuje się raczej złożonym związkiem pomiędzy ludzką i zwierzęcą śmiercią, co wedle autora artykułu należy odczytywać z zupełnie innej perspektywy: wielorakie transmutacje postaci w fabule powieści wskazują na postkolonialne pragnienie renegocjowania granic pomiędzy zwierzęcością a tym, co (trans)ludzkie.

2019-12-25



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Problematic Human-Animal Relationships: The “Animalization of Man” as a Gesture of Power and Violence in the Novels of Marieke Lukas Rijneveld

Magdalena Stoch

Published: 16-05-2025 | Abstract | pp. 1-16

The article deals with the „animalization of man” as a form of power and violence in Marieke Lukas Rijneveld’s novels The Discomfort of Evening (2021) and My Heavenly Favorite (2022). Rijneveld uses animal metaphors to depict hierarchical relationships between species that legitimize violence and domination in society. The narratives of the characters, especially a pedophile veterinarian, show how discourses of animal oppression permeate into human relationships, leading to the dehumanization and exploitation of the most vulnerable, such as children. Rijneveld exposes the illusory nature of interspecies boundaries, suggesting that violence against animals and humans is based on the same mechanisms. Using a zoocritical perspective, the author of the article shows how language and culture in Rijneveld’s novels shape social approval of violence, linking the fates of humans and animals in the context of domination and subordination.

2025-05-16



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Towards Animalism: The human-animal relationship in Filelfo’s novel L’assemblea degli animali

Karolina Kopańska

Published: 29-12-2023 | Abstract | pp. 1-21

The aim of the article is to trace the human-animal relationship in the situation of the
COVID-19 pandemic in Filelfo’s novel L’assemblea degli animali. The author will examine how the ideas of animalism are revealed in the novel. In the first part, the ideology of animalism will be discussed, in the second part we will look at the invasion of animals into a deserted city in a pandemic. The third part will focus on the relationship with pets in a pandemic. The last, fourth part, will discuss the process of hybridization-reconnection with nature.

2023-12-29



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

“Zdychanie” – animal dying, or “umieranie” – human dying? – aesthetic and ethical dimensions of death in modern dramatic art

Monika Błaszczak

Published: 25-12-2019 | Abstract | pp. 237-252

An extremely interesting issue in the field of literature is the question of aesthetic and ethical dimensions of animal death. Is a calm death while being asleep, in a friendly environment, with no streaming blood involved,more ethical,because it is aesthetically “nicer”? How do these two categories relate to one another when it comes to animal death? In the Polish language, the verb used to refer to an animal that stops to be alive is “zdychać” (die), whereas to a human– “umierać” (pass away). Is there a sense of community betweenthe animal and human fate in the face of death? Attempts to find the answers to these questions may be found in modern dramas, withPawitren by Iwona Korszańska as one of the most interesting ones in terms of the discussed problem. In the text written by this author, animals and humans are equalized sharing the common fate, and their death is not differentiated between“zdychanie” (dying of animals) and“umieranie” (passing away of humans), but rather equivalent and equal. In the social performances presented in the drama, the inseparable couple, Eros and Thanatos,marks the life of a human and an animal to the same degree.

2019-12-25



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

On Ancient Zoos and Menageries [Review of Aleksandra Jakóbczyk-Gola’s book Ogrody zwierząt. Staropolskie zwierzyńce i menażerie, Warszawa: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, Muzeum Historii Polski, 2021]

Natalia Rezmer-Mrówczyńska

Published: 06-09-2024 | Abstract | pp. 1-7

In her latest monograph titled Ogrody zwierząt. Staropolskie zwierzyńce i menażerie [The Gardens of Animals. Old Polish Zoological Gardens and Menageries], Aleksandra Jakóbczyk-Gola describes zoological gardens and menageries in the former Republic of Poland and at the threshold of modernity. The author sets her research concerning the history of animal collections in a broad social and historical context, as well as in museological and environmental ones. The book presents the result of the most recent research on native and non-European fauna in the modern era. It provides a study of the structure and resources of ancient animal collections, including an analysis of the development and establishment of human-animal relationships in a cultural perspective, from ancient times onwards. It includes a history of animal collections from the regions of Mesopotamia, China, Africa and the Americas.

2024-09-06



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Animals as Subjects of Memory: The Cultural and Linguistic Experience of the “Rainbow Bridge” Pet Cemetery in Szymanów

Maja Mańkiewicz

Published: 07-02-2025 | Abstract | pp. 1-12

The aim of this study was to characterize the textual layer of tombstone inscriptions at the “Rainbow Bridge” pet cemetery in Szymanów near Wrocław, reconstruct behavioral patterns of contemporary people experiencing the loss of a close companion, and analyze processes indicative of cultural transgression in human-nonhuman animal relationships. To precisely reconstruct the socio-cultural dimensions of the described cemetery, the research focused on both the linguistic aspects of the inscriptions and the aesthetics of the cemetery space. The analysis of the collected material revealed that pet cemeteries serve as spaces where a remarkably strong bond between humans and their deceased animal companions is expressed through various forms of expression. Furthermore, the study highlighted a shift in the perception of nonhuman animals from objects to subjects.

2025-02-07



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Locating the Animal in Emily Dickinson’s Poem “I heard a Fly buzz - when I died -”

Adrian Trojak

Published: 17-12-2025 | Abstract | pp. 1-13

The article explores the problem of poetically presenting animality without reinforcing the conventional human/animal distinction. The article argues that the poem addresses the issue of locating animality within Homo sapiens by its poetic rendering of an interaction between a dying human and an insect. The insect’s presence makes the vision of immortality inaccessible to the lyrical speaker. Locating animality is achieved by undermining heroic narratives, which leads to a fuller revelation of the human’s finitude. The animal within the human being turns out to be located in their finitude determined by the mortal biological constitution and embeddedness in a semiotic system.

2025-12-17



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Animal Death and Religion: Revisiting Creaturely Vulnerability, Mourning and Sacrifice

Alina Mitek-Dziemba

Published: 25-12-2019 | Abstract | pp. 97-118

Choć kwestia zwierzęcej śmierci i umierania od dawna zwraca uwagę badaczy z kręgu animal studies, coraz częstsze jej pojawianie się w obszarze studiów religioznawczych jest zjawiskiem interesującym i stosunkowo nowym, które domaga się rozważenia. W badaniach ogniskujących się na religii coraz więcej uwagi poświęca się ostatnio nie tyle rozmaitym znaczeniom, jakie przypisywane są obecności zwierząt w ludzkim doświadczeniu religijnym (gdzie figurują one jako przedmioty, symbole i ciała), ile bardziej kontrowersyjnej kwestii samych zwierzęcych reakcji na śmierć istot im bliskich. Zdaniem niektórych badaczy, ta ostatnia może być także rozpatrywana jako rytualna i protoreligijna, co daje szansę na rewizję antropocentrycznego ujęcia religii jako fenomenu czysto kognitywnego. Sposoby przeżywania śmierci przez wyższe zwierzęta (jak dokumentuje to etologia), w dużej mierze zbiorowe i ceremonialne, podkreślające cielesną kruchość (vulnerability) i potrzebę wyrażenia żalu w rytuałach żałoby, wydają się bliskie ludzkiemu rozumieniu religijności jako szeregu społecznych zachowań, które stanowią odpowiedź na doświadczenie cierpienia, utraty i tajemnicy otaczającej czyjeś odejście. W tym kontekście istotne więc wydaje się zadanie pytania, dlaczego wszelka próba określenia zwierzęcych zachowań mianem religijnych budzi – wśród większości ludzi deklarujących swoją przynależność do wiary – niemal instynktowne negatywne reakcje. Jakie procesy semiotyczne, filozoficzne i polityczne przyczynić się mogły do uznania, że religia to obszar czysto ludzki, a co więcej, definiowany przez pryzmat różnicy ludzko-zwierzęcej? Czy istnieje coś, co Derrida nazwałby trwałą ofiarniczą strukturą zachodniego myślenia (gdzie pojęcie ofiary oznaczałoby nie tylko powszechną zgodę na przemoc wobec zwierząt, usankcjonowanie faktu ich śmierci na potrzeby człowieka, ale także zamknięcie przed zwierzętami możliwości udziału w tym, co religijne w charakterze innym niż przedmiot ofiary)? Artykuł podejmuje te kwestie, argumentując na rzecz zwierzęcej religijności, opierając się na nieantropocentrycznym ujęciu żałoby w pracach Judith Butler oraz analizując literackie i artystyczne strategie przedstawiania śmierci zwierząt, które poprzez swoje akcentowanie wymiaru religijnego zyskują emancypacyjny charakter, w utworach D.H. Lawrence’a oraz Iana McEwana.

2019-12-25



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Fauna of the Island of Taprobane and the Indian Ocean in the Account of Claudius Aelianus (NA XVI 17–18)

Elwira Kaczyńska

Published: 06-09-2024 | Abstract | pp. 1-14

The text comprises an annotated Polish translation of two consecutive chapters of Claudius Aelianus’ De natura animalium (XVI 17–18), devoted to the island of Sri Lanka (in ancient times called Taprobana, later Ceylon). Chapter XVI 17 describes the great marine turtles, i.e. the leatherback sea turtles (Dermochelys coriacea Vandelli), massively killed by the local people. Chapter XVI 18 features the great Ceylon elephants (Elephas maximus maximus L.), as well as marine monsters that live in the Indian Ocean. The concise description of the coastal dugong (Dugong dugon Müller), contained in this chapter, is the only surviving evidence of the knowledge of this animal preserved in Geco-Roman literature.

2024-09-06



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Święte zwierzęta (fragmenty)

Tatiana Michajłowna Goriczewa , Alina Mitek-Dziemba , Ekaterina Nikitina

Published: 24-12-2017 | Abstract | pp. 69-81

Fragment nietłumaczonej dotąd książki Tatiany M. Goriczewej pt. „Święte zwierzęta", wydanej w Sankt Petersburgu w 1993 roku. Jej autorka jest jedną z niewielu postaci obszaru rosyjskojęzycznego, zajmujących się łącznie prawosławiem i kwestią praw zwierząt. Dołączony we wcześniejszym artykule komentarz zawiera wprowadzenie do jej poglądów, przedstawiając je na tle panoramy myśli wschodniego chrześcijaństwa. W tradycji tej, odmiennie od teologii zachodniej, wskazuje się na kosmiczny wymiar chrześcijańskiej idei zbawienia oraz możliwość religijnej identyfikacji i uświęcenia zwierząt. Ta interpretacja chrześcijańskiego przesłania pozwala na odmienne spojrzenie na sytuację zwierząt i ich cierpienie we współczesnym świecie, oraz daje podstawy do działania na rzecz ich upodmiotowienia.

2017-12-24